A combination of a radio receiver with a detachable controller is presented. The radio receiver sends either reduced or enhanced metadata about received programming to the controller. A connection from the controller to the receiver carries commands and carries only the reduced set of metadata, such as tuned channel and tuned channel name, from the radio receiver back to the controller. The controller is authorized by the radio receiver sending a radio identifier to the controller, determination of an authentication code at the controller and communication of the determined authentication code back to the radio receiver for validation. Upon validation, an enhanced set of metadata, including song title and artist, is sent to the controller. The enhanced metadata, the reduced metadata, or both, may be encrypted. Such authorization processing is periodically performed by the radio receiver.